A New Visions Commentary
paper published March 2004 by The National Center for Public
Policy Research. Reprints permitted provided source is credited.

Justifiably confident going into the election
cycle, Republicans have announced they hope to win 25 percent
of the black vote. Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt
Gingrich has great expectations. "If we get African-American
votes, [the Democrats] are in deep trouble," he told the
Washington Post.

Not just any trouble. Deep trouble, he
says.

Columnist Jonetta Rose Barras agrees,
citing black voters' growing dissatisfaction with the Democratic
Party that resulted in Arnold Schwarzenegger winning 17 percent
of their vote last year and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg garnering
22 percent in 2001.

The statistics portend good things for
Republicans. According to the oft-cited Joint Center for Political
and Economic Studies 2002 political survey, 63 percent of blacks
self-identified as Democrats (down from 74 percent in 2000), 24
percent as independents (up from 20 percent) and 10 percent as
Republicans (up from 4 percent).

Regardless of how blacks self-identify,
however, Democrats consistently get 90 percent of the black vote.
Why? Years of damage caused by liberal ideology and misinformation
pumped into the black community for the past 25 years. Memo to
Republicans: Popping up in black church services and doing sound
bites on urban radio won't cut it.

Blacks have been lied to about the history
of the Republican Party and civil rights. Historically, blacks
voted for Republicans because Democrats were blatantly anti-civil
rights (and in some ways still are). For example, "radical"
Republicans of the 1860s supported slavery's end in America. Democrats
opposed the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1964 (Senator Robert
Byrd participated in a filibuster of the latter). Jim Crow was
a creation of Democrats.

In the 1960s, Democrats blocked school
doorways while Republicans pushed de-segregation legislation.
In 2004, Democrats continue to block school doorways as Republicans
push school choice, the only hope many black parents have to ensure
that their kids get a decent education.

So why did large numbers of blacks switch
from voting for Republicans to voting for Democrats? Some say
it was President John F. Kennedy's perceived sensitivity to the
oppression of minorities that endeared him and his party to black
Americans.

Aside from revisionist history, a more
fundamental rift exists between blacks and Republicans. The concept
of limited government, a core Republican principle, is anathema
to most blacks - even wealthy, well-educated ones. Thanks to the
handiwork of Southern Democrats, blacks continue to turn to the
federal government for redress of the slightest racial grievance.

Conservatives have a healthy distrust
of the federal government, and believe its powers should be limited
to only those enumerated in the U.S. Constitution. To most blacks,
however, limited government brings to mind "states rights,"
which in turn evokes images of Southern whites and their resentment
of federal intervention in local affairs during de-segregation.

The rights of the states are at the heart
of a good constitutional republic, but blacks won't easily forget
it was the federal government that enforced civil rights after
Reconstruction, created jobs under the New Deal and protected
us from billy clubs, dogs and water hoses in the 1960s. Do you
blame people for believing a bloated, central bureaucracy is still
savior even in 2004?

Republicans should keep emphasizing that
the federal government is not supposed to have this much control
over the people. The U.S. Supreme Court most recently usurped
the will of the people by finding a non-existent constitutional
basis for continued race discrimination, although discrimination
was legally abolished in 1964. In 1973, they usurped the will
of the people by discovering a non-existent "right to privacy"
to kill unborn babies. Favoring a strong, forceful central government
was once a matter of survival for blacks generations ago, but
no longer.

Given this elemental divide between blacks
and Republicans, it won't be easy for the GOP to court us. But
the most important advantage Republicans have over Democrats is
that Republicans can win elections without the black vote; Democrats
can't.

In the meantime, Republicans should continue
to do what they do best: defend the country, support policies
that foster economic growth and fight for the sanctity of the
family, the unborn and the dignity of the individual.

Once enough of us are fed up with liberal
lies, fear, resentment and mistrust (and being passed over for
leadership positions), perhaps they'll return to the party that
set us free. And once they get a taste of real freedom, Democrats
will be in trouble. Deep trouble.

###

(La Shawn Barber is a member
of the African-American leadership network Proeject 21 and freelance
writer in Washington, D.C. Comments may be sent to [email protected].)

Note: New Visions Commentaries reflect the views of their author,
and not necessarily those of Project 21.